Posted in: FX, Hulu, TV | Tagged: always sunny, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Always Sunny: McElhenney Attempts Redemption; Olson Begs to Differ
Rob McElhenney argued that he didn't get the number of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia seasons wrong - and Kaitlin Olson responded.
We're feeling pretty lucky because it's not often we have an update to an update on FXX's Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton & Danny DeVito– starring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia – especially during the off-season. Okay, so here's a bit of a history lesson that leads to an update – so buckle in. Last week, McElhenney dropped a link to be able to view and download the scripts for the season's eight episodes. After the post, McElhenney added in a follow-up, "Aspiring screenwriters: keep in mind that this is a show in its 16th season. The scripts are bare-bones, shorthand documents for cast, crew and execs we've worked with for 20years. Not exactly examples of great screenwriting begging to be emulated." Well, Olson caught the part where McElhenney wrote, "Keep in mind that this is a show in its 16th season," to remind him that the show is actually in its 17th season. But not so fast…
McElhenney would defend his post, responding, "The scripts are from the 16th season you dumb bird" – a response that would not go unresponded to (no, we don't get paid by the "responds" – we just like how that sounded in our heads) by Olson – and Olson brought her grammatical "red pen" with her. "Then 'was' would work. This WAS a show in its 16th season. Go make dinner." was Olson's mic-dropper. Here's a look at the exchanges:
In a social media post last week, McElhenney shared an image of Day in front of a dry-erase board – and it was clear that he was mapping out/outlining an episode. As for what that board could be telling us? Well, that was the $100 challenge that McElhenney put out to "Always Sunny" fans – giving them a day to do it. Well, guess what? "I just reviewed all responses, and while there were some really creative answers, unfortunately, no one got anywhere close," McElhenney wrote in a follow-up post. " To be fair, I wrote the episode with him yet still couldn't quite follow his outline. You'll have to watch to find out! It's our season finale!"
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Kaitlin Olson on Emmy Snub
At the Emmy Awards ceremony in January, The Gang got the band back together to present the award for Outstanding Talk Series (Trevor Noah & The Daily Show would take top honors) – and to take a moment to address their topic of the show being ignored by Emmy voters. "Have you guys been doing this every year without us?" Day asked toward the opening of their segment. "I feel like we're getting the full Marvel treatment here."
To make matters even a little more insulting, this year also marked the first time that The Gang was invited to attend the biggest awards ceremony in television. DeVito really drove the point home when he reminded them that he had already won an Emmy for his work on Taxi – which would run for five seasons, picking up 34 nominations and 18 wins. "34 nominations in five years vs. zero nominations in 16 years? That math is bad!" Olson observed – before DeVito added, "Rhea [Perlman] won four for 'Cheers.'"
As fun as that was to watch, the point can't be ignored. How can a show that's run for 16 seasons (and counting) be as ignored as "Always Sunny" has been over the course of its run? "We talk about that a lot," Olson shared during an interview with Vanity Fair. "I think there are some shows where it's just decided, 'Oh, this is the hit show of the season,' and people will give it a shot. And then there are just some shows that are just like, 'No, this isn't an Emmy show.' And if you jumped in and saw a clip of our show and didn't quite understand it, you'd think this show is raunchy and gross—not appropriate and not classy and lowbrow. And the truth is, that's true. And if you really watch a full episode, it's so smart. We're making lots of statements. We are making fun of extremists. It's a lot more intelligent than people think."
Olson added, "It just became a thing where it was like, 'Oh, that show again.' People are looking at new shows. The truth is we are getting a lot of validation every single day. We have fans that will cry and shake if they take a picture [with us]. We're doing what we want to do, making a show that we're proud of and making people happy. I really am truly good. But will I take an Emmy? Yeah, I'll take an Emmy."